Fore Inventors Only

[Jeepthrills]

Thank you Jeepthrills!

What was the atmosphere like on the show. Were the other inventors supportive of each other? It seemed like a pretty good group.

[Everardo]

Just annouced at the PGA Merchandise Show, the Club Glider will now be made by Sun Mountain, read more here

[iacas]

Just annouced at the PGA Merchandise Show, the Club Glider will now be made by Sun Mountain, read more

$259 MAP, yep. Many, many improvements made. We'll do a review shortly, and perhaps an interview with Gary.

Yeah, and the Club Caddy is going into production in March or April. I met every one of the "Fore Inventors" finalists. They were all there.

[Jeepthrills]

Saturday I was at the Demo Days for Dunham's Sports in Strerling Heights, MI with my boss. They are one of the sponsors of his TV show and we were there talking to customers about golf fitness. There were reps from several golf companies including SKLZ. They make a lot of golf training aids and fitness related products.

Larry Kelly, the inventor of the GyroSwing, was there. He is a very cool guy and I was talking with him for a while about the show. SKLZ has signed him and is selling his product. The thing was very cool. If you take it back off plane flips the clubhead open or closed depending on how you were swinging. We are going to be filming another golf fitness show soon and are hoping to involve SKLZ. They have some great products for golf specific conditioning. They also work with Rick Smith.

Larry said that the guy that won is "floundering" right now. Has anyone seen an infomercial or commercial for the Club Caddy? I had kind of forgotten about it until my most recent Golfsmith catalog came. Even then I noticed most of the other finalists before I finally found the Club Caddy. Apparently they tried to do another show but cancelled it part way through filming.

[Wisco-Kid]

I had the same thoughts Jeep. I had forgotten about the club caddy until my golf smith catalog came a couple weeks ago. I remember when I was watching the show that I thought it was a great idea. Very simple and something that I would use. I also remember thinking how are they gonna sell a giant clothes pin for more then 5 bucks? Well needless to say the $20 price tag just doesnt fit for me. I bet they would sell plenty at half that price. I know I would buy one if it was available in my club's pro shop for $10 bucks.

[iacas]

Larry said that the guy that won is "floundering" right now. Has anyone seen an infomercial or commercial for the Club Caddy? I had kind of forgotten about it until my most recent Golfsmith catalog came. Even then I noticed most of the other finalists before I finally found the Club Caddy. Apparently they tried to do another show but cancelled it part way through filming.

David Jones has a site up at:

http://www.theclubcaddy.com/ . It was very recently re-designed, by the way. It was pretty bad before. He's been struggling, because he basically has to foot the cost of manufacturing and all that by himself. He's had trouble getting investors but things are coming around. He hopes to begin shipping Club Caddies very soon. It may cost $20, sure, but it's made out of some pretty tough plastic and even those dumb things people use to draw lines on their golf balls cost $10. For $20, it's basically insurance you'll never forget your club and also that you won't have to worry about wet grips. We plan to interview David and post, as part of that interview, a short review of the Club Caddy. I suspect I'll buy a few for family and friends.

[Jeepthrills]

David Jones has a site up at:

I do like the thing, but I agree with Wisco that $20 is pretty steep. At $10 I would order one right now. It is a great gift for the golfer that has everything. It's too bad that the winner of the show is left hanging while the guys that finished behind him, like Gyro and Club Glider, are signed with other companies and selling their stuff.

[Wisco-Kid]

It may cost $20, sure, but it's made out of some pretty tough plastic and even those dumb things people use to draw lines on their golf balls cost $10. For $20, it's basically insurance you'll never forget your club and also that you won't have to worry about wet grips.

Yeah the more I think about it the more I think that most golf stuff is overpriced anyway and $20 is not bad considering it would be something I would use all the time. I just have a hard time mentally with 20 bucks for a plastic clip, but then again I have not seen it in person. If it is sturdy I would pull the trigger on it. Iacas do you have one?

[Jeepthrills]

I just went to Golfsmith.com and noticed something interesting. They have the Gyro Swing as a featured product on the home page. I'm sure that is likely due to SKLZ buying space but still it seems kind of funny that the winner required a search. I noticed that on Golfsmith it is the ZTech Club Caddy but on his site there is no mention of ZTech.

[iacas]

Yeah the more I think about it the more I think that most golf stuff is overpriced anyway and $20 is not bad considering it would be something I would use all the time. I just have a hard time mentally with 20 bucks for a plastic clip, but then again I have not seen it in person. If it is sturdy I would pull the trigger on it. Iacas do you have one?

Will have one soon. I played with some of the first runs at the PGA Merch. Show.

[ERC7.5]

... it's basically insurance you'll never forget your club and also that you won't have to worry about wet grips.

I usually use either my ball mark repair tool or a tee to do the same thing (prop the grip up off of the ground).

Pretty handy looking tool though.

[crawf061]

http://www.theclubcaddy.com/order.html

Why would he package it like that? If this thing is spring loaded (which I would imagine it has to be), then this packaging is only going to weaken the spring. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this product will actually lose value every day that it sits in that packaging.

[ERC7.5]

http://www.theclubcaddy.com/order.html

For what it is used for, I don't believe the amount of fatigue that the spring is going to see will hinder it's functionality.

[golfchief]

Don't be shocked to see it in the stores during the summer, some company in taiwan will mass produced and sell them between $7 and $10.
He may have been sitting on a gold mine but I think he will end up with the shaft.

[Pinseeker81]

It said he spent over $40,000 making that thing...on what? Looks like he cut the end off of a pair of jumper cables. Cool idea though. I might get one.

[Daddy Golfer]

I made several flower supports from heavy gage galvanized steel similar to these http://www.gardeners.com/Gathering%2...efault,cp.html and I use one to hold my golf clubs off the grass. I drilled a hole in the plastic that overhangs the bucket of my golf bag to hold it and viola. Cost me about $1.50.

I can't imagine myself spending $20 for a large clothes pin.

[iacas]

It said he spent over $40,000 making that thing...on what? Looks like he cut the end off of a pair of jumper cables. Cool idea though. I might get one.

Patents, creating the molds... I think you'd be surprised at how quickly some of this stuff adds up.

[shredfit]

Don't be shocked to see it in the stores during the summer, some company in taiwan will mass produced and sell them between $7 and $10.

Yup! I think that is very likely to happen.

In fact, I visited the records office in Alexandria VA and found that it was daily full(I was told) of Asians researching and copying Patents(highly doubtful that this is ALL purely academic). Make NO mistake, I also have visited Asia and know from experience that they don't play by the same intellectual property rules that America does.... Hence, some VERY convincing fraud brand name golf clubs(China).